The Color of Money

Synopsis

The Hustler isn't what he used to be. But he has the next best thing. A kid who is.

Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.

Alternative Titles

Genre

You gotta have two things to win. You gotta have brains and you gotta have balls. Now, you got too much of one and not enough of the other. -Eddie Felson

My first time rewatching Color of Money since finally seeing The Hustler, it obviously adds a whole new level to the film that I had never experienced before. What Fast Eddie attempts to do and where that actually takes him suddenly has deeper meaning.

Paul Newman giving Tom Cruise googly eyes while he destroys John Turturro in a game of pool while Phil Collins' "One More Night" plays in the background is the frontrunner for most romantic moment of the 80's.

Martin Scorsese 'Scorseses' the shit out of 9-Ball Pool. Whip Pans, crash zooms, fluid overheads, prominant music, perfectly framed close ups, beautifully lit sets and he does all this whilst telling a layered tale of the master & the rookie. It works because of his confidence with his craft, much like Paul Newman's 'Fast' Eddie Felson, who leads Cruise's Vincent on a crooked path through the back rooms of cigarette smoke choked pool halls.

A little talked about Scorsese picture but with his flair on full throttle here, its one not to be ignored.

This is my favorite Martin Scorsese film. A big reason why is nostalgia. My father played pool and himself was a fan of this, and we had a VHS rip of it in my house for years. I'm not a big sports fan, let alone pool, but the cinematic poetry applied here is never boring to watch. Defining performances from Paul Newman and Tom Cruise feel like the cherry on top. I still get goosebumps whenever I see the montage of Felson getting his act together before arriving in Atlantic City.

Back in 1986 Tom Cruise starred in Top Gun, the movie that catapulted him into the stratosphere. He also shared top billing in October of the same year with screen legend Paul Newman in a follow-up to Newman's iconic sixties film The Hustler. Directed by Scorsese, here is the proof that the young Cruiser certainly got some acting tips from his co-star as less than three years later Cruise would garner his first Academy Award Nomination for Born On The Fourth Of July. Newman of course walked away with the Best Actor Statuette for this film, but did he really deserve it? Fast Eddie Felson alongside Butch Cassidy and Luke "Cool hand" Jackson was Newman's most memorable character. This film…

I have to admit I haven't seen The Hustler and that probably diminished my ability to get everything out of it. Scorsese, Ballhaus and Schoomacher bring the usual flair and technical ability. Pretty good still.

Paul Newman taking the 25 year sequel to "The Hustler," to Martin Scorsese, the most stylish director in history, was a beautiful new direction for this story. The classic Scorsese soundtrack headlines a pulse pounding pace spearheaded by incredibly inventive editing from Thelma Schoonmaker and Scorsese adds something so indescribably satisfying to this film. And that's without mentioning the absolutely commanding performance from Paul Newman playing off the mentor role with the explosive Tom Cruise. Newman adds great depth to the hustler persona, but ultimately shows it's all a play. The trio of Newman, Cruise, and Mary Elizabeth Mastratonio makes a dynamic set of characters all playing off each other.